Day With Daddy
by TheEndsongAbyssXV
Summary: Just a little side ficlet from my "Heart's Filthy Lesson" story. A young Trafalgar Law spends the day with his father, Manuel. Father/son bonding fluff and adorableness ensue. (COMPLETE, but MAY create sequel...)
1. Chapter 1

It was a cold, cloudy morning in Paris, and the city was bustling to life when the clocks all hit dawn. People went off to work, children awoke to prepare for school, and everyone went about their day as normal. It had snowed the previous night, and a good foot and a half of the stuff blanketed the ground. Icicles clung to balconies and slicked the road. The Eiffel Tower was as majestic as always, and glistened like a diamond in the weak sun that tried (in vain) to break through the heavy clouds.

In a small apartment on the Rue des Saints Pères, a small boy stared out of his bedroom window, face pressed against the chilled glass. His eyes were wide with excitement and he quickly hurried to get dressed so he could go play. The four-year-old grabbed his winter coat, black with silver fastenings, and his black snow boots, pulling them over his pajamas and then running out of his room.

He walked down the stairs into the foyer and raced for the door, only to fall short when he saw the child-proof door handle. He frowned severely and tried to pull it off, but it didn't work.

"What'cha doin', son?"

Trafalgar Law scratched his head, messing up his dark hair. He pointed to the door and then looked up at the tall man before him.

"Wanna go 'side." He said.

Trafalgar "Manny" Manuel smiled. "I know, but you have to have breakfast first, alright?" he laughed at the off-kilter button job on the boys' coat and the fact that his shoes were on the wrong feet. "And ya have ta get dressed."

"Yes, daddy." He looked up at the stairs. "S'il vous plaît?"

It took every ounce of self control for the man not to squeeze the boy into a hug for his cuteness. Carpathian males didn't often show emotion, but his kid was just so damned adorable!

The two ventured up stairs, careful not to wake the child's mother (who was pregnant and resting more often), and into Law's room. Manny went over to the closet and sorted through the various long-sleeved shirts for the boy.

"Está frio," he said, and then grinned as Law mimicked the words back in his soft voice. The child spoke French and Brazilian Portuguese perfectly, but he did have some pronunciation issues.

He pulled out a dark gray sweater with a polar bear on the front, and the a pair of thermal pants, which he would wear under his jeans. Next came socks, and then his hat and gloves.

Law wanted to put everything on at once and run outside, but Manny was firm in telling him that he had to eat first. Law nodded, and walked down the stairs and into the small kitchen. The stove was on, and a kettle was warming on it.

"Papa, why do you like coffee?"

Manuel scrubbed a hand over his face and yawned. "Because, pequeño, it tastes good and wakes me up."

Law looked at the dark brown liquid in his father's mug. It was steaming slightly, and his father blew on a couple of times before he took a sip. "Can I try?"

"You won't like it. It's very sweet, I put agave nectar in it."

Law grimaced, he wasn't fond of overly sweet things. Unless they were his mama's almond croissants. Hot buttery pastries with almond purée inside, and topped with almond slivers and powdered sugar. His mother usually made them for special occasions, or when Law and his father both begged so much that the woman caved in. He stood on his toes, chin barely reaching the edge of the counter, looking for said food. He was hungry now that he'd thought about it.

"Want a drink?"

Law looked up at his father, "Juice!" he grinned, running over to the table and sitting in his chair by the window, where he could view all of Paris.

Their apartment was on the 17th floor of the building, and provided a great view. Every night he would sit at his bedroom window and watch the people walk around, and the ships dock at the d'Azur harbor. He loved the ships that came to port; he watched them and the people who went in and came out. There had been a few times where pirates had come, but Law liked them. He drew his own one day, a yellow submarine, and his father thought it was funny but his mom did not. Madeline was terrified of Law becoming a pirate. She made him promise never to become one unless he absolutely had no choice. Even though he didn't understand why she was so afraid, he'd agreed.

...

After an hour or so of breakfast, which consisted of vanilla porridge (which Law did like) and an almond croissant, Manny picked his young son up and carried him up the stair to say goodbye to Madeline. Once they hit the top of the stairs, Manuel walked to the end of the left hallway and gently opened his bedroom door. Madeline was laying down, staring out of the window, watching the snow fall.

"Maman!" Law squealed and reached for the woman who smiled and opened her arms to take him.

"Careful, son. Yer ma's in a delicate condition."

Law lifted the soft blue quilt off of his mother and looked intently at her distended belly. She was heavy with child, and was due in just a few weeks. She had been ordered by Manny to stay in bed for 20 hours a day, only allowing her to get up to bathe, eat, and use the restroom. But she didn't mind, as her two boys catered to her every need. Law liked helping take care of his mother, who told him it was practice for when he got married and had a wife to care for. Being four years old, Law found the concept of marriage "gross", and made faces whenever Madeline brought it up.

Law leaned down and put his head on his mothers stomach and waited patiently for his unborn sibling to move. After a few moments the child scowled and sat up with a glare. Madelined smiled at her oldest child.

"Ma petite, the baby is resting." Law pouted and looked up as his father walked in from the bathroom, dressed in his winter gard and ready to go. Law slid of the bed and ran over to his father with a grin.

"Bye mama, bye Ian!"

Without waiting for a reply, the raven haired boy raced down the stairs and out of the front door.

...

The snow was thick on the ground and crunched under Law's weight. He stomped in circles while waiting for his father to come outside with him. The streets were mostly empty because it was so cold, but Law didn't care, he wanted to play, he _loved_ snow.

"DADDY! HURRY UP!" he yelled, watching as his father pulled on another coat.

"Relaxe, filho." he said with a grin. "I know you're excited."

Brushing snow out of his hair, Law took his dad's hand and ran off with a grin. "Let's go!"


	2. Chapter 2

(For the French and Portuguese words, just copy/paste into Google Translate.)

The snow was thick on the ground and crunched under Law's weight. He stomped in circles while waiting for his father to come outside with him. The streets were mostly empty because it was so cold, but Law didn't care, he wanted to play, he _loved_ snow. The dark haired child rocked back on his heels and watched as the pale sunlight glistened like jewels on the icicles hanging from the roof. More snow had begun to fall, fat little puffs of it gathering in his hair and clothes.

"DADDY! HURRY UP!" he yelled, watching as his father pulled on another coat.

"Relaxe, filho." Manuel said with a grin. "I know you're excited."

Brushing snow out of his hair, Law took his dad's hand and ran off with a grin. "Dépêchez-vous!" Releasing Manuel's hand, Law took off, trudging through snow that was nearly half way to his chest. He grumbled to himself when he got stuck and Manuel laughed at his son before picking him up under one arm and walking through the snow until they hit the sidewalk, where the streets had been cleared of ice and snow and instead was covered lightly with a mix of salt and sand.

"Papa?" Law was hanging upside down as Manuel handled him like a sack of potatoes, hauling his song this-way-and-that as the two made their way out of the small cul-de-sac and towards the snowy forest.

Manuel looked down at the boy, "Hmm?"

"When is mommy having the baby?"

Manuel wasn't expecting this question, and he wondered why the matter concerned the boy at all. "Not too much longer now. Maybe a two or so more months." When a women fell pregnant with a Carpathian child, the gestation period was anywhere between eighteen months to two years, depending on the bloodline of the father, and the physical constitution of the mother. And while Madeline was a strong woman, she'd already lost two babies after Law and had had another miscarriage right before Ian was conceived. Law had almost been lost, but Manny had taken Madeline to his family's ranch in the Brazilian rainforest where his brother Rafael had used his healing ability to stabilize the unborn child and ultimately saved the boy's life.

Law let out a small huff, and grinned at the cloud of steam that came out of his mouth. He twisted his head and blew a stream of air, watching as it dissolved. He leaned down and reached for the snow, scooping some up and making a messy, oblong-shaped 'ball' with it before slamming it against his father's leg with a laugh.

"Hey!" Manuel wiped the snow from his pants and then lifted Law into the air and mock-glared at his young son. "What are you doing, boy?"

Law looked away sheepishly and smiled a little. When Manuel grabbed his chin and forced him to meet his eyes, Law looked up at the sky. "Noooooothing~"

Manuel set the kid down and watched as Law ran around in the snow, screaming and rolling around like a crazy person. He'd run a few steps and fling himself facedown in the stuff before jumping up and repeat the process. The sun was attempting to break through the gray clouds, and Manuel looked up, breathing deeply. He shivered violently and frowned, pulling his wool trench coat closer to himself. He missed Brazil, where the temperature rocked into the triple digits, and the humidity made it constantly feel like it was drizzling, even though the rain they did get at the ranch were usually torrential downpours that flooded the Amazon and the Rio de la Plata.

The only reason he'd even met Madeline, his mate, was because of a trip she'd taken in school to visit Rio de Janeiro, where he'd been on the lookout for a fresh horde of _lessers_, desouled humans who followed the commands of the Skaal, the enemy race of all Carpathian and other sub-human species. He and his eldest brother Zacarias were keeping an eye out for a potential hideout for the bastards and he'd been tailing after a suspcious character when he'd run into a group of schoolgirls taking pictures. He'd accidentally slammed two into a wall of a seedy little bar.

Manuel's mother had raised him to be a polite, strapping man who didn't raise a hand or word against women, and he'd instantly bent down to help the two girls off the ground. The blond had swore at him, telling him to watch 'where the bloody hell' he was going while the other one had laughed at her spaciness and apologized.

One look at the wavy-aburn haired woman and that was it.

The urge to claim the woman was so strong that his fangs shot out of his mouth as the male teacher helped pick up her books and he had to strongly resist the urge to tear the other man's throat out and leave him to bleed in the street.

Manuel shook his head of the memory and looked at Law with a wry smile. _Virgin forbid he ever gets a mate, or a female claims him. _

"Papa?"

"Hm?"

Law pointed to te forest beyond. "I'm gonna go get some sticks for a fort."

Manuel nodded and watched the boy run off. "Stay close!"

"''kay!" as Law vanished behind some bushes, Manny closed his eyes and emptied his thoughts, focusing on where his wife was. He was a strong psychic, and could 'see' wherever the woman was. Madeline was currently in the kitchen, making a sandwich for herself, and manny chuckled at the weird ass concotion. Bread, peanut butter (crunchy), raspberry preserves, and between the two? Sliced pickles . Sweet and sour all in one.

He watched as the woman inhaled the sandwich and washed it down with two cups of fresh-squeezed OJ. Manny made sure all of the food she ate was at the peak of freshness. No Carpathian worth their salt allowed their mate to consume anything that wasn't absolutely perfect. If a meal had any kind of flaw, it got tossed, and Manuel made sure the orange juice that Madeline loved was picked from the orchard grown by his brother's mate and then pressed by hand. He'd dematerialize anywhere he had to in order to get Madeline what she craved, including Melba toast and Vegemite.

Madeline rested a hand on her belly and smiled.

Suddenly, Manny was snapped from his thoughts as Law's voice cried out, "DADDY!"

The yell was followed by a strangled 'help me, papa!', and Manue tore off into the woods, and the first theing he saw when he burst through the line of bushes was Law, dangling from a branch on a rather thick Norway spruce. His foot was caught between two branches, and the sharp spines were cutting into the child's skin, and Law looked as though he'd been attacked by a rather vicious cat.

Manny almost laughed at his son's expression. The boy was glaring darkly at the tree and trying to pull himself up.

"Namorada, what happened?" Law started twisting violently in an attempt to extricate himself and the branches snapped, but Manuel caught the child and righted him in his arms. He examnied the small cute on his son's face and neck, and sealed a particularly deep one with a swipe of his tongue. "Law?"

"Tried to get the branches with the pretty leaves on top. Got stuck." he shivered against his father and Manuel dusted snow out of Law's hair.

"How about we go home and see how Mama's doing?"

Law smiled, "Ian too?"

Manuel nuzzled his 4-year-old. "Yeah, Ian too."


End file.
